Hella Juiced: Eric Bellinger

Eric Bellinger is an R&B staple. At one point, “I Don’t Want Her” was the hottest song of the year, setting the mood in any club or function. What most people may not know is his work in the industry prior, which includes songwriting for some of music’s elites including Tank, Justin Bieber, Usher, and Trey Songz — to name a few. Read more…

It was 2011 when the Los Angeles native took home a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Album for his work on Chris Brown’s album, F.A.M.E. In 2014, he released his debut album titled The Rebirth, which proved he had a place in the rap game just like his peers.

Now, he celebrates a new project titled Eazy Call and a sold-out headlining show at El Rey in his hometown of LA.

For those who don’t know, who is Eric Bellinger?Eric is the voice of the past, present, and future of all genres and all sounds, merged into one.

You’ve got some hits in the vault. How has your sound evolved over the years?I think it’s evolved, sprouted, and blossomed just from my fearlessness to try different things, and to be confident that the way I feel is right, is right. There’s really no such thing as a wrong “thing” in music, so that fact alone allows me to just create and do what I feel.

Talk about putting from the West Coast and being from the city of Angels.Being from LA and having LA support for so many years is nothing short of a blessing. This is my dream. I did my thing behind the scenes, provided services and worked for other artists, and now to switch over and to be able to do the same thing, it’s a tough transition. But LA has been supporting me like crazy.

You recently dropped your album, Eazy Call. What exactly do you want fans to get from your story this time?I just want them to know about the versatility. I can rap, sing. I can do falsetto. I can do more dance tracks, I can do urban. I can still remind you of the R&B that you fell in love with before, and I can do it cohesively and consistently.

I love that you dropped a Meditation Music project on National Meditation Day. How do you practice self-care?Oh my goodness. First of all, I definitely meditate every single day. Regardless of what the circumstances are with me, I’ll make sure that I make that time. Just because over the years, it’s gotten crazy. My head is mentally being stretched and pulled. If you don’t have a base, it’s really tough to actually start fresh every day. I think with meditation or doing yoga, especially hot yoga for sure.

Do you go to Core Power?! I love Core Power.I do! I’m a member of Core Power. For my birthday, Nieman got me a $1000 gift card to Core Power. [laughs]

That shit’s expensive! I used to sneak into the Hollywood one. I got caught.Exactly. That’s the nicest one. I like that one, and Studio City. Yoga, massages — even receiving massages. That’s where it originated for me, just having that flux and waves and just when they’re massaging, you’re up thinking. That’s a form of meditation in itself. There’s so many different ways.

What do you want your legacy to be?Timeless and classic, that’s it. I want to be able to play my song “Valet” in 30, 50 years and it still sounds the same. Whatever classic music is, like Luther Vandross. Just timeless.

What did you do with your first advance?I think I bought a Benz.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing music?I’d be playing football, or an astronaut.

Favorite song to perform in a set?“I Don’t Want Her.” That’s the first one that did it.

Can you talk about your fashion sense and how your style defines you?Everything in my fashion style is the same with the music. 80’s songs, flipped. New hip-hop beats. My glasses are vintage vibes, but I got the freshest. It’s all vintage mixed with high fashion and futurist, but vintage still. And the fresh shit — the newest shit everybody wants mixed with the oldest shit everybody wants.

What’s the best encounter you had with a fan?I’d say at a New York show where somebody gave me a gift on stage. She gave me a flash drive. Normally people give me beats, but this person actually gave me a big essay on why I’m perfect. Like she loves me and used lyrics from songs as examples, and put bullet points and facts that I made, and told me what each line meant to her. Like a big old paper! When I read it, it was crazy. I read it when I got back home.

Who’s the most played artist on your phone?Alina Baraz.

Dream collab?Drake.

Last question, how are you and Tory Lanez?You know, I said what I said, I feel like he said what he said. It was like some higher ups on both our ends that was kind of reaching out and just like, “Ay, just chill.” [laughs] And I chilled and he chilled.

You went in on him!I had to do it once! He had like 6 blows already, so I had to do one big one. And it was good.